Above All Things
by fatalis-stille
Summary: KxJ. One-shot. One can realize the value of the most important things within the space of but a mere second.


Disclaimer : I don't own the beautiful gay cast of GB.  
  
Author's Note : My first KxJ. It's a one-shot and I was just experimenting with the pairing at 2:00 in the morning.  
  
Above All Things  
  
He touched the bandages covering his eyes gingerly with his index finger, traced the contours of his face as if he'd never known that they were there before. The cotton was soft and warm to the touch, the slightly rough texture of the cloth wrapped around his head snugly and comfortingly.  
  
In the beginning, he had insisted on wearing them because they prevented him from opening his eyes whenever he woke up, his silent reminders of his predicament, easing slightly the hate he felt for himself whenever he thought about why he deserved everything that had come his way.  
  
Gen, the doctor, had told him that that he would be blind for the rest of his life; that he had injured himself so perfectly that it was permanent. He had laughed bitterly in reply. Of course the job was faultless. He'd been born to know such things.  
  
But as time passed, he started wearing them because they had become comfortable. They had somehow become a part of him, and ceased to inspire the feelings of pity and self-loathing that they usually did.  
  
They had started becoming...suitable, in a certain way, just as the darkness started feeling right too.  
  
But most people couldn't comprehend that. They only thought that he was to be pitied, to never be able to see anything at such an early age. They didn't know that these days, he saw things with the most blinding clarity one could ever ask for.  
  
Beneath the folds of his bandages, he shut his half-closed eyes and opened the part of his mind which was usually locked.  
  
Raitei. He had first seen his Emperor leading VOLTS through the middle of Mugenjou, head held high and mouth twisted in a sad smile, viewing the children playing around him with bittersweet melancholy evident in his gaze. So many had trailed after him, laughing as they went along, the entourage of the savior who looked as if he were dying right then and there.  
  
He had sensed the loneliness in the other, the young teenager who carried a burden which stronger people have fallen under. So cruel his fate, to always teeter between the edges of sanity and release, never finding solace in anything because it would mean losing control and destroying everything he worked so hard for in the process.  
  
Most thought he would fail, break under the intense pressure crushing at him from all sides. But somehow against all odds, Ginji Amano had managed to create order in Infinity City and he had awed everybody by the confidence and authority he displayed.  
  
Jubei had sensed the power that the Raitei possessed, and Jubei valued power over most things.  
  
Mido Ban. He had first seen the man who started everything on Makubex's computer screen, white shirt flapping with the breeze and sparkling violet eyes watching everything with an incomparable air of intelligence and cleverness. He saw the strength that this man wielded, felt it emanating from him in undeniable waves, and he fully understood why Raitei and so many others were drawn to him. It was the way he manipulated every situation he came across to come up with a result which pleased him, no matter what the odds were.  
  
He had never had such an ability. Always, things had been decided for him by tradition, and he had never had the strength to deviate from it, following as he was taught to follow, and doing as he was ordered to do. He had no say in anything, and he had been like that for half his life now.  
  
Mido Ban represented unwavering control, and Jubei respected control over most things.  
  
Makubex. He had first seen Mugenjou's wonder child standing at the edge of a rooftop, dark purple scarf snapping at the sheer force of the wind, days after the Raitei and Kadsuki had disappeared. He had never seen eyes as empty and as dead as the silver-head's had been, and the toneless voice that had issued from the other's pale lips unsettled him more than he was willing to admit.  
  
Makubex was just a mere boy with broken dreams then, but so was Jubei, and the fire he saw glittering in the glass orbs of the child's eyes kindled something in him that he thought had died long ago, so he had followed wherever he was lead without question, and living off of the flame he saw in the teenager. The young prodigy had showed him how, through sheer determination and strength of mind, he could create a new world for himself where he would never have to be left again, and for that he was grateful.  
  
Makubex had given him steadfastness, and during that time, Jubei craved steadfastness more than most things.  
  
Kadsuki. He had first seen the man he loved when he was but a mere boy, the other dressed in a girl's kimono and wearing the most accepting smile he had ever seen in his life. He remembered flawlessly the day he had sworn unerring loyalty to the Fuuchouin heir, declaring his life as his, the absolute certainty of his promise still ringing clear in his mind.  
  
He recalled memories of standing unfalteringly by Kadsuki's side, of the two of them fighting against Mugenjou's most dangerous criminals with only needles, strings and faith between them, and of secret glances and smiles shared under the cover of darkness and privacy.  
  
His allegiance had wavered but once in all his years, and the tears that fell on his face after the last battle he had ever fought with his sight burned him to ashes and soothed him to life at the same time.  
  
The man had said he was forgiven, that he would not leave him ever again anymore. He could hardly believe the sincerity he found in the voice of the person he had hurt the most, and he expected the other to tire of him and leave one day, finding himself alone once again as he'd always been after Fuuga.  
  
But the man he had betrayed never left him, no matter how bleak things had gotten.  
  
And during those moments in time, he had realized something that made the darkness spin and his heart stop beating.  
  
Kadsuki would never be power, would never be unwavering control nor steadfastness. Jubei could not esteem him above most things, because he did not deserve it.  
  
But Kadsuki he loved with all his soul, and deserving or not, Jubei would die for love above all things.  
  
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So what do you think?  
  
The review button is calling to you! Comment please and tell me if Jubei OOC or not! ( ( ( (  
  
-fatalis 


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